Carrillo trails only Heredia, Palmares, Moravia, and Santa Ana. The municipality ended up ranked 29th out of the 172 public institutions analyzed.

According to INCAE’s study, some important aspects for a web page include paying taxes online, availability of documents regarding local officials’ performance, mobile-responsive design, and a simple interface.

A digital platform that allows citizens to review the work municipalities is fundamental for democracy and accountability of authorities, explained Luis Loría, coordinator for the Area of Investigation and Development (AID).

“Access to information empowers people and allows them to make noise and ask about what’s going on if they don’t like a project,” said Loría.

Additionally, well designed sites have a positive impact on community members’ quality of life and helps them save time and money, explained Maikol Porras, president of the Citizens’ Research Center for an Open Society (in Spanish, ACCESA).

“People don’t have to take off of work for several hours [do take care of something], they just have to open a tab on the internet and take care of the matter in five minutes,” said Porras.